Dale Lockett, CEO of the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors' Bureau, said the story of the Duke City's tourism industry is like a tale of two cities. On one hand, the tourism industry is thriving. The biggest convention in years -- the United States Bowling Congress -- promises to bring some 100,000 visitors here and an economic impact of up to $100 million. The U.S. Youth Soccer Association will hold its far west regional championships in Albuquerque in 2010, which means about 13,000 room nights booked in the city.

In fiscal year 2007, there were 53,000 room nights and $20 million in direct spending associated with convention business here. The lodger's tax and average daily rate in hotels are both up.

But Lockett is not optimistic about the city's future competitiveness. Tucson, Ariz., has plans for a new 12,000-seat arena in its downtown, as well as a new 700-room hotel and renovations of the 200-room Hotel Arizona, both within walking distance of its convention center.

"For the last 15 years, it has not been very competitive against Albuquerque," Lockett said. "With this change, however, it will reverse the playing field. We will no longer be able to compete against Tucson."

Tucson is just the latest convention destination to add rooms and events centers or large theaters. Austin, Texas, added an 800-room Hilton several years ago. Denver's new convention center has a Hyatt hotel. Many such projects are publicly owned or have public financing.

Albuquerque's convention business flourished in the 1990s, but the city is losing its footing, Lockett said. He blames several reasons: A small number of full-service hotel rooms within walking distance of the Albuquerque Convention Center, the lack of a nearby events facility and a Downtown that is less than thriving, particularly on weeknights when most conventioneers are in town.

In 2000, about 13 percent of the business the convention center lost was due to the small number of nearby rooms. In 2007, that number rose to 41 percent, according to the ACVB.

The size of the city's convention center would lead most meeting planners looking for a site for a 5,000-attendee convention to expect that they could count on a room block of about 1,000 rooms within walking distance, he said. These are for their most important clients, such as board members, speakers and exhibitors who are carrying the cost of tradeshows. Planners are willing to shuttle other attendees from other locations, but not their core customers, he said.

Bill Geist agrees. Geist is the founder of Zeitgeist Consultants in Madison, Wis., and is working on a study for the ACVB on Albuquerque's future as a hospitality destination. He is interviewing a number of people in the city and collecting data for a report that will be out in May.

"Planners today are looking for the easy button and right now Albuquerque is not easy," he said. "Putting more rooms Downtown makes it a significantly easier sell."

Geist is exploring what would happen if the city regained its position as a convention and meetings destination, and what would it look like if it didn't. Could it just focus on the sports tournament market and being a leisure destination? That's an option, he said. So far, however, he is finding a fair amount of support for attempting to regain its status as a convention site, but he has just started his research.

Lockett said compounding the lack of rooms is the fact that Downtown is still struggling.

"When we do a site inspection for a 5,000-attendee convention, they can choose destinations anywhere. They have options that are fabulous options across the U.S.," he said. "If they come here and do a site inspection and your downtown area at 6 p.m. is deserted, why would they want to bring attendees here?"

An events center or arena could anchor a much bigger revitalization than what has happened so far, Lockett added.

"If you look across the United States, there is a phenomenon occurring in cities and in city centers where they are using the hospitality industry as the cornerstone for redevelopment and revitalization," he said.

Such efforts bring not just visitors into the city center, but attract locals back to Downtown with the ancillary businesses that develop around such a center, such as retail and restaurants, he said.

The lack of an events center is locking the city out of whole categories of meetings, Lockett said, including certain trade shows and the religious market, which is quite large. An events center allows attendees a nearby space to have huge assemblies for large presentations or speakers.

"That $20 million [in lost business] was only the business that we were able to compete with, that would even take a look at us," he said.

The city named a team led by Garfield Traub of Dallas in 2007 to build a 16,000-seat arena near First Street and Central Avenue. Garfield Traub is developing Tucson's event center.

Ed Adams, chief operations officer with the city of Albuquerque, said Garfield Traub officials were here recently and are working to gather support from community leaders to move the project forward. The proposal includes a hotel, apartments and retail space and the projected cost is $350 million, but Adams said it's premature to give a set cost until the project is finalized. The City Council eventually will vote on the package.

The biggest question is financing. Most such projects, including attached hotels, are financed with a mix of public and private financing. In some cases, cities or municipalities actually own the hotels.

"There's not one anywhere in the country that pays for itself," Adams said of arenas. "They all have to be publicly supported.

This is why Adams said it makes the most sense to put such a facility Downtown to spur other economic activity.

"If it's not in proximity to the Convention Center, it's hard to coordinate and use them as marketing tools," he said.

Gov. Bill Richardson recently signaled state support for a multipurpose events center in Bernalillo County when he charged Brian O'Neill, the new head of the state's Sports Authority, with developing a proposal for such a facility.

"Governor Richardson created the New Mexico Sports Authority for this very purpose, to identify opportunities throughout the state to attract sporting events, including infrastructure to support those events that add to the quality of life and economic development of communities," said Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for Richardson. "A multi-purpose arena makes the most sense in the middle Rio Grande corridor."

That said, Gallegos added that it's premature to speculate on whether the state would financially support the development of such a project.